Welcome to Walking Dead, Survival! By joining this site, you accept the terms and conditions and are willing and able to prove that you are 18 and older. By accepting this, you release all liability.
Forum Roleplay: Roleplay resources catering to play-by-post forum gamers and communities
If you would like to establish your own Stronghold, please private message Remy with a name, city, state and brief description of your stronghold. If you have any questions about any of the stronghold's listed above, please mesesage the leaders. NEWS AND EVENTS:
For news and events in our area strongholds, click here: STRONGHOLD NEWS
Area in red above is the location of 77th Street Division; area in teal is Hollywood Park, an area of exploration under consideration by 77th Street as an urban outpostSo how do we get there from here? Ben thought about the question in his mind as he studied the map of South Los Angeles he'd tacked onto the walls of his office inside the former LAPD police station, running a hand over his chin, the stubble leaving pinpricks sensations on his hands as he continued looking at the map. How do we clean out an area right next to an arena with God knows what inside and a cemetery next to it? How many people am I going to need? How many people do I leave here to watch over everything? Question after question bounced through his mind like rounds bouncing off of Kevlar, so much so that he didn't hear the quiet knock on the door of his office. "Come in," he called out.
Inside stepped a couple of his former LAPD squadmates, officers familiar with Hollywood Park and the area around it. "Hey, guys," Ben said, looking over and smiling at them. "Ever been to Hollywood Park?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, a few times," one, a burly man who looked like he could snap undead ghosts in half on looks alone, said. "Why, boss?"
"'Cause I've got a plan for turning Hollywood Park - or at least the former horse racing part - into our first outpost," Ben said, adding, "Now tell me why we can't do it, gents."
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 11, 2016 1:04:25 GMT -5
Inside 77th's Vehicle Garage....Standing in the middle of an in-ground roll-through bay didn't normally give Alex any confidence (she wasn't mechanically inclined, being a medic and all), but she'd been wanting to get some long-needed maintenance for her fire truck completed and she just hadn't had any time 'til now....which meant the numerous small problems that would normally be done in minutes had piled up into one large number of needed things that simply had to get done. So like anyone with tons of work to get done, she'd dressed appropriately...for a Valley Girl - an old pair of LACFD blue work pants cut off about mid-thigh, an LACFD undershirt with the sleeves cut almost completely off and hiking boots - and got to work on her vehicle.
It was easy to spot the Angel of Mercy - a fire-apple red Los Angeles County Fire Dept. vehicle which contained pretty much everything one would need in terms of emergency first aid - and over the past three years, the truck - and Alex - had become a talisman of sorts for everyone at 77th Street; whenever any convoy or group of vehicles left the safety and confines of the former police station, if her vehicle went with them, everyone knew they had a better-than-even shot of returning home. It also meant that, if she ever needed a favor or anything from the several grease monkeys who kept the station's vehicles running, it was there...and so she was there, setting out to work on her firetruck, looking rather Valley Girlish but hard at work.
And the work was hard: besides finally getting around to changing out the truck's oil - a somewhat simple task that was becoming an increasingly hard task given the slowly growing lack of motor oil - there was a swap-out of the truck's spark plugs, a re-install of a Motorola console radio and a swap-out of the truck's shocks and tires...plus about a thousand other damn things, Alex grumbled. But work she did...which meant that one of the other grease monkeys was able to walk up behind her and surprise her by whistling. Startled, she banged her head on the hood of her vehicle..."Owww!" she grunted, turning around as she did; when she saw who it was, though, she gave him a slug on the shoulder.
"Don't sneak up on me like that; I coulda' opened up a gash on my head...and if anything happens to me, you wrench-head, where would get another angel, huh?" Alex said, sarcastically rubbing her head where she'd hit it on the underside of the roof before taking a second to wipe her hands and forearms of the grease and oil that'd gotten on them since starting. "Relax, Woody, relax," she added, leaning back against the truck and wondering just what the deuce was going on.
"Kelsey wants to see you; why, I don't know," the mechanic said; this caused an eyebrow of Alex's to go up. It was one thing for one of the station's nurses to ask for her; for the station's Head Nurse to ask for her was something else. Looking at her sweat-soaked clothes, Alex asked, "I got time to change and look halfway decent?"
"Yeah, she only said sometime today," Woody replied, a broad grin on his face. Alex didn't have to ask him about the grin; she knew damn well why he was grinning. "What else is left on the Angel?" he added, raising his hands up in a joking sign of surrender.
"Nothing that won't keep," Alex sighed. "Still need that radio replaced, and a new set of shocks and tires if we have 'em--"
"Consider it done, babe," Woody replied, whistling to a couple of other mechanics and waving them over. After a moment, he motioned for Alex and added sotto voce, "This doesn't have anything to do with a possible trip across the city, does it? We've only heard rumors and..."
"Beats me, grease monkey," Alex said, shrugging her shoulders and reaching behind her head to undo the bun her hair was gathered up in. Shaking her head a few times, she thought about what Woody had asked. "I'll be sure to ask," adding quizzically, "you're not thinking of going outside, are you?"
"Who, me?" Woody said in a bit of mock credulousness. "Only if our Angel's out there with us," he added, grinning. "You take off, Alex; we'll get the vehicle fixed back up for you."
"You're a doll, Woody," Alex said, giving him a friendly hug and heading out at a friendly trot, deciding to go ahead and wash up first, then grab some clean clothes and go see what the station's Second-in-Command wanted her for. Maybe we are going outside the wire, she mused as she left the Vehicle Garage, wondering just who else was going....
Post by Kelsey McNeal on Jun 17, 2016 2:18:12 GMT -5
Inside 77th's Medical CenterSitting inside her office, Kelsey rubbed the bridge of her nose and went back over the inventory of items needed for what, if her husband Ben was right in mentioning this morning to her, would be the station's first foray to another area to check and see if the place was suitable for a permanent outpost. Leaning back in her chair, she quickly scanned the list, making a few notations and reading through it a couple more times, wondering just where the hell--
"You rang, 'O mighty nurse?" Alex said, knocking on the door to Kelsey's office. Kelsey chuckled...there were only two people who could cause to chuckle at the least little thing: her husband Ben and the station's Chief Medic, Alex.
"Come on in," she said, smiling; Alex walked in, now freshly showered and dressed in LACFD blue fatigues and wearing that trademark slapdash smile about her face. Sitting down in a chair along one wall of Kelsey's office, Alex asked, "So, what gives?'
"We're heading to Hollywood Park," Kelsey said, leaning forward resting her elbows on the table. Seeing the look on Alex's face, she added, "Don't laugh, you're on the first trip over."
"That's nice," Alex replied as Kelsey continued. "The plan - at least the plan as I know it right now - is for a small group, about 20 or so, to go over, secure Hollywood Park - the horse track, the stands, the stables,...the whole works - then, over time, begin building up a permanent presence there - barricades, living quarters, watch towers, those things"
"When are we leaving?" Alex asked.
"I don't know," Kelsey replied, holding her hands up to emphasize the point. "I do know that when Ben and his people come up with a plan, we'll go then, so have your gear ready to take off...oh," Kelsey added as Alex got up, "anything happens to my husband out there..."
"I got it: you'll take it out on me," Alex said, smiling and laughing as Kelsey added, "and if I find out you slept with him..." eliciting an eyeroll from Alex; Kelsey chuckled and balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Alex. "Go on, get out of her, you mutt," she smiled as Alex left the office, leaving Kelsey back to her own thoughts.
Red lines indicate initial sets of fencing and barricades surrounding Hollywood Park; fuchsia lines indicate where the initial breach point to get inside Hollywood Park (and where vehicles will be parked outside) is located at
As he sat back in his chair inside one of 77th Street's former roll call rooms, Ben listened to the reasons why taking Hollywood Park couldn't be done....mostly they fell to two reasons: security and people.
Security was easy enough. Even though initial drive-by in weeks past showed the presence of heavy-gauge chain-link fencing, Ben knew even the strongest links could break, so once they secured living areas and good watch positions inside, they would need to secure any weak spots in the fencing, plus add additional fencing outside wherever they eventually decided to park their vehicles.
People, though, was a different story. At present, 77th Station only had around 110 people and of those, about 35 were maintenance and security people who had to remain at the station, plus another dozen nurses who also couldn't leave on the first wave. That meant he was down to about 60-65 remaining...of those, Ben could only bring about a third with him in order to provide enough personnel for supply runs originating out of the station. And that means I only take about twenty people with me, Ben mused as everyone continued talking.
After a few moments more, he coughed and lightly rapped the table to get their attention. "Okay, I got your concerns here...but the situation inside here is starting to grow tight from a space perspective; we need that additional space elsewhere to expand or we're simply not to going have any more here. Now, let me tell you why I think it is a good idea..."
Ben's premise for picking Hollywood Park lay on two basic points: (1) even though the former horse racing venue was located smack dab in the middle of an urban area, its' wide, flat parking areas and tall buildings and grandstands meant wide fields of fire, good outpost areas...places they simply didn't have back at 77th, and (2) once established, they could use the parking areas to stage for supply runs to either Hollywood Park and-or 77th Street Division. Yesh, Ben had concerns, in particular the neighborhood immediately northeast of the track, a densely packed warren of houses that were a military's nightmare to go through, never mind post-apocalyptic groups....and to the northwest, the Great Western Forum. As with Hollywood Park and every other sporting venue prior to the Pandemic, the Forum had been closed but Ben also remembered that the place had been considered as a refugee center, similar to the Superdome in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina....and that thought alone made Ben shudder just on principle alone.
After laying out his plan, he added, "We go tomorrow morning, first light. Pick out your teams and report to the Vehicle Garage at 0400. Carry on."
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 21, 2016 4:57:41 GMT -5
Rough, leather soles brushed the pavement of the sidewalk, the soles of which belonged to a pair of sneakers worn by time and use that sat protectively over the feet of a single young man. The young man, with a head of unruly wavy brown hair and a blue baseball-style cap with a falcon logo on it, an accessory in contrast to the worn light reddish short-sleeve he had on with a blue zip-up jacket tied around his waist with the knot more to his right hip so that it would not get in the way should he have any such an urge to relieve himself; in this world, there was no one to enforce the laws of old, no policemen having real authority, not that he could tell. Perhaps foolhardy, but he thought it a half-decent chance to find survivors but perhaps as he strolled over the gravel.
From his position, being on the road of West 77th Street headed west, he could see the I-110 highway in the distance further on down, who knows how infested with dead ones it was? He didn't know, and he didn't care to find out. Right now, he was in search of luxury, but he also needed supplies. And then it came; the ultimatum to brave the large police precinct just to his right as he walked closer, or to avoid it under the assumption it was filled to the neck with undead. He didn't know until he tried, and if things went south, he could always just turn and run--he's been doing that for years now, his body had grown used to it. Holding his dented aluminum bat at the ready, he slowly approached the gate, though had a noticable tremble in his figure from the suspense.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 22, 2016 1:11:51 GMT -5
Inside 77th's Vehicle Garage....Okay, let me see, Alex whispered silently....38 revolver, loaded and speed loads ready, check. Halligan bar, check....Kelly tool, check...,. Going through her routine before leaving the station, Alex checked everything she could imagine on her truck, even going so far as to climb onto the hood and bouncer herself up and down a few times to check the shocks and suspension, sliding down off the hood, satisfied her teeth weren't going to chatter while driving the Angel of Mercy.
Looking around, she saw the others who were going to Hollywood Park; they were also going through their routines as well; opening the door, she grabbed the handset and turned the radio on, doing a radio check with the other vehicles to make sure their radios were good to go. Putting the handset set up, she climbed inside and sat behind the wheel, resting her head against the seatback and going over the plans once more in her mind...
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 22, 2016 1:27:10 GMT -5
Piers didn't expect anything, he thought the upcoming police station was just...empty, abandoned. That would be more than enough cause to check it out. When he got to the station, though, he looked around quietly, and went towards where the entry way for an underground garage, possibly for the precinct station he was at right then, and peeked inside as he was half-expecting to come face-to-face with some decrepit, ugly corpses walking about.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 22, 2016 4:32:02 GMT -5
Alex had just closed her eyes for a moment when she heard someone slam their hand, palm-flat, against the side of her truck. "Wake up!" the person said, sticking their tongue out at the station's Senior Medic. Looking over in her seat, she smiled when she saw the person who'd interrupted her moment of quietness and solitude.
"Amy, people have died for doing less than that," Alex retorted, shaking her head as the Station's resident radio and electronics fix-it clambered aboard, all-but-throwing her own frame into the passenger seat. You had to hand it to Cozad, Alex mused, no one else 'round here can lighten a mood better. "So, what's got you so chipper? Someone break a radio?" she said. Or fix a radio, for that matter. A former California Guardsman, former CW-4 Amelia Cozad - Amy to everyone at 77th Street - was the stronghold's resident electronics and radio whiz, who possessed an uncanny abiliaty to fix practically any piece of electronics they had. She was also one of the few people, besides Kelsey Chambers, who could keep up with Stapleton's extroverted brand of humor.
"No, someone didn't break a radio; I volunteered to go out today," Amy replied. This caused Alex to raise an eyebrow; normally, Cozad didn't go outside unless absolutely needed and she figured if they were going to turn Hollywood Park into a permanent outpost, they needed Ms. Fix-It out there. Before Alex could say anything, the radio chirped. "All units, this is 7-1," came the voice over the radio. Alex started the firetruck up as Ben continued speaking over the radio. "Be ready to roll as soon as the gates are open, out." Picking up the radio, Alex replied, "Copy, Angel 6 ready to go," and set the handset back down. "Guess we better buckle up," she said.
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 22, 2016 12:57:26 GMT -5
Piers lightly grabbed the grating of the garage. and shook it lightly as if to see if any zombies come towards him, if it was worth it to come inside...and also to see if it was loose enough to force it up but found no luck. With a sigh, he moved to leave the garage entrance/exit and walked back along its road, curious about something, before he couldn't help but notice tracks on the road, a sign of recent activity. Now a lump fell in his throat as he saw this sight; does that mean the station was taken over? By bandits? Survivors? He had no way of knowing. He half-wanted to knock on the door to see who came out, and half-not because of fear it may be bandits, and he'd be tortured and killed quite possibly.
Sitting inside one of the station's Humvees', Ben signaled for one of the guards to walk the gate; as soon as the gate was wide enough for them to go, Ben nodded for the driver to go and they drove out and turned west onto 77th Street. "Alright, everyone, keep an eye out for anything unusual," Ben said over the radio. "You guys know the drill; let's stick to the plan and let's get things done."
As they began traveling over, Ben thought about the plan...it was simple enough: after arriving at Hollywood Park, his people would split up into four groups, each going through the office building in front of the grandstand, then through the grandstand. Once both were secured, then the work of turning the former horse-racing venue into a permanent outpost would begin. Simple enough, Ben thought as they got up to speed, but even the simplest plans have a way of going right out the window at first contact.
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 22, 2016 13:16:19 GMT -5
Piers suddenly heard the sound of a vehicle coming from nearby, and turned to run a bit towards it in the hopes of finding out the identity of the station's occupants, if any, and looked around in time to find a vehicle, a large fire truck, being driven! If that didn't scare the wits out of him, nothing would, especially as if was driven by live people. He still didn't know if they were friend or foe. Deciding that even then, he was going to die anyway from starvation fairly soon, he stepped out from hiding and waved his hands in a "hey!" manner, but was not stupid enough to actually yell such, only hoped they saw him, whoever it was.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 22, 2016 22:38:16 GMT -5
Pulling out of the station, Alex had just gotten the Angel of Mercy in line behind the four Humvees in front of them when Amy called out, "Hey, yo, hold up, Alex, we got someone back behind us." Slowing down to a crawl, Alex stuck her window out of the driver's side door...and saw what looked like a young man waving frantically at them. For several moments, Alex weighed whether to ignore the man and continue on...or continue creeping along and wave the kid towards them; in her mind, the man was a survivor, period.
"Amy, get on the horn to Ben and tell him we got a survivor out here," Alex said, stopping the firetruck and climbing out. Ben's gonna' kill me for this, she thought as she began calling out to the kid - and that's what, to her, whoever it was looked like. "Hey, over here," Alex called out to him. "Over here!"
"Repeat your last, Angel 6," Ben said into the handset, listening to the voice on the other end. "7-1, we have a survivor just past the South Gate," said the person on the line - Cozad by the sounds of it, Ben thought - "requesting permission to pick up, over."
Sighing audibly, Ben pinched the bridge of his nose; he knew well he could order Stapleton to continue on and ignore the pickup...but he wasn't that kind of person; also, he also knew darn well if he denied their request, Alex would just pick the survivor up anyway. Ben keyed his handset once more. "Angel 6, go ahead and make pickup; we'll hold up just under the 110. 7-1 out." Looking over at the driver, Ben shook his head humorously, thinking, there goes Alex, giving a fuck when it ain't her turn to give one...
Last Edit: Jun 22, 2016 22:48:21 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 23, 2016 1:31:25 GMT -5
Piers saw that the person--a woman, and a cute one at that--that was operating the large fire truck stopped and called out to him, he took that as a cue to run towards her and got to her door to talk, taking his hat off since it would just get in the way since he had to look up. "Thanks for stopping...I'm all alone out here, no food or water. I was wondering if I could tag along to wherever you're going? All I have on me is this, uh..thing.", he said...having a light yet husky voice for a teen, and a slight raise of his hand to show the beat-up baseball bat in his hand, staring up at the pretty lady with his greyish-blue eyes.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 23, 2016 1:46:40 GMT -5
"Thanks for stopping...I'm all alone out here, no food or water. I was wondering if I could tag along to wherever you're going? All I have on me is this, uh..thing.", he said...having a light yet husky voice for a teen, and a slight raise of his hand to show the beat-up baseball bat in his hand, staring up at the pretty lady with his greyish-blue eyes.
"Climb in," Alex said, holding the door open for the young man - he's old enough to be a younger brother, she mused; leaning back inside a moment, she said, "Amy, move up a little so that he," pointing back towards the kid, "can climb in the back seat," a necessity since the Angel of Mercy didn't have rear-passenger doors.
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 23, 2016 2:18:46 GMT -5
Piers wasted no time in climbing into the truck and moving to sit in the back next to Amy, who he nodded with a smile to in greeting. He looked back to the front with a soft sigh of relief at the fact he was let in. While sitting, he spoke softly back to the kind woman who let him in.
"Thanks. So, uh..where are we headed, if you don't mind me asking? My name is Piers, by the way.", he said as he introduced himself softly to whomever was all in the truck at the time.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 23, 2016 7:21:21 GMT -5
Piers wasted no time in climbing into the truck and moving to sit in the back next to Amy, who he nodded with a smile to in greeting. He looked back to the front with a soft sigh of relief at the fact he was let in. While sitting, he spoke softly back to the kind woman who let him in. "Thanks. So, uh..where are we headed, if you don't mind me asking? My name is Piers, by the way.", he said as he introduced himself softly to whomever was all in the truck at the time.
"Nice to meet you, Piers," Alex said, starting the firetruck back up and heading out to re-join the others waiting under the 110. "I'm Alex, that's Amy," pointing over to her colleague, who introduced herself to the young man. "We're on our way to Hollywood Park; care to join us?" she asked him, thinking to herself, who else are we liable to pick up today?
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 23, 2016 15:23:19 GMT -5
Piers nodded with soft smile to each of the girls as they introduced themselves. He looked around the inside of the fire truck before looking back out the windshield, as if enjoying the ability to see where it was they were going from his new safe place, and replied with a nod and a "yes" when Alex asked him if he wanted to come along; why else was he on the ride if he was just gonna want to be dropped off somewhere? He'd been alone all that time, so it wasn't far-fetched that he'd want to have some company, even better if that company happened to be girls. He got it so he was basically sitting between the two front seats with his knees on the floor of the truck, looking from Alex to the road alternatively before speaking again.
"So, uh...I'm not going to be that good in a fight. I've never shot a gun before, and I couldn't, uh..do any fancy throws or anything.", he said, implying that he's never killed one of the zombies at all, having been surviving on evasion and elusiveness as well as luck.
Post by Alexandra Stapleton on Jun 23, 2016 18:09:30 GMT -5
"So, uh...I'm not going to be that good in a fight. I've never shot a gun before, and I couldn't, uh..do any fancy throws or anything.", he said, implying that he's never killed one of the zombies at all, having been surviving on evasion and elusiveness as well as luck.
For several moments Alex and Amy looked at one as if trying to say, "...and he's made it this far?!?" before Alex glanced back at Piers via the rear-view mirror and quipped, "Don't worry, I'm not that good at fighting either...relax, kid; if you've made it this far, that means one thing: you're a survivor, same as me, Amy or anyone else down here in the City of Angels." It wasn't boastful talking either; she meant every word.
After a moment, she added as they rejoined the rest of the convoy, west of the 110, "a little music while we head to Hollywood Park?" reaching down to flip the radio switch on. Pretty soon the radio was blasting a deep melodic bass tune that had the firetruck shaking; if not for the fear of attracting growlers to their rolling position, Alex would've turned it down but she knew these streets...if there were growlers out, they'd heard them just on the vehicle sounds alone.
Post by Piers "Red" Bailey on Jun 23, 2016 18:18:56 GMT -5
Piers had his breath held while awaiting Alex's reply, only to exhale in relief when she returned with a message that said it was okay, that she wasn't as experienced in fighting, either. Well, now he didn't feel so helpless. While he had zero skill in fighting save for the occasional, lucky shoves, his ability to make tracks and run were well up there, same with his evasion and reflexes. He seemed to have no idea how to use a gun; he feared using one would corner him and have him outnumbered by either bandits or the undead, so he always ignored them whenever he looted, thinking there'd be no one alive to show him how to do it. Now these people? These people can teach him more things, can help him be a better survivor; so far, he's only made it this far on caution and cowardice, from running from fights...or was that actually a good thing? Piers nodded, and lightly patted both Amy and Alex on the shoulders in a nonverbal "thank you" before sitting back in his chair softly, not yet noticing they were merging with more people in a convoy.
Shauna Kelly: That helped, thank you
Oct 4, 2021 14:40:44 GMT -5
Ayita Hunt: dang, January was my last post.. Jeez it's been a hot minute. o7 guys, sorry for the complete disappearance, life got.. a little interesting this year.
Oct 18, 2021 22:34:19 GMT -5